


the color of memories

by gracieminabox



Series: horizons universe [15]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Friendship, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 22:36:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13374498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracieminabox/pseuds/gracieminabox
Summary: Two of Starfleet's most decorated captains were also dear friends.This is their abridged history.





	the color of memories

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: While the events in this story are compliant with my "horizons" universe, which began before Discovery, the ending could imply events that diverge from that universe. It's up to you whether or not you want to accept it as alternative "horizons"-verse or not :)

“…accordingly, it would be contrary to the Federation’s core ethical principles to distribute humanitarian resources in any manner other than blindly.”

Chris’ professor inclined his head approvingly, and Chris preened with the implied praise. But then…

“You had a comment, Cadet?”

The steady, lightly accented voice spoke from Chris’ left. “Cadet Pike makes excellent points regarding the blind distribution of aid, but I fear he is forgetting to incorporate the final decision of the 2207 Dhaal’ra Accords into his analysis, which would make his solution to this problem, while perhaps ethical, a violation of Federation law.”

The professor smiled. “You’re exactly right, Cadet, and thank you for pointing that out. In this case, blind distribution of resources would in fact be a breach of Federation law. In a command situation such as this, you would have to first contact the Admiralty for special permissions…”

Chris glared, then turned slowly. The cadet who’d corrected him sat primly, typing notes on her terminal, a pretty Mona Lisa smile on her face. She turned slightly toward him, raised her eyebrows challengingly, and resumed her typing.

For the remainder of class, Chris sulked in the general direction of Cadet Philippa Georgiou.

 

 

Their academic competition was fierce and cutthroat. He narrowly bested her in astrophysics, she wiped the floor with him in diplomatic relations, and they were fairly well-matched in hand-to-hand. They were never paired together because he towered over her, but he absolutely picked up tips from watching her fight. She was graceful and merciless and he was both terrified of and a little in love with her.

The competitive edge seemed to bring out the best in her and the worst in him, and apparently professors noticed it, because they were assigned to complete a major project together in their second year, just the two of them, on recruitment techniques. Predictably, they disagreed on primary approaches, with Chris vigorously advocating for a simple explanation of the Federation and Starfleet’s missions, arguing that any potential recruit should buy what they were selling on that alone.

“That may work for some recruits,” she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder, “but it wouldn’t have worked for me. Cookie-cutter approaches are notorious for their failure, Pike. You have to be willing to improvise based on the person you’re talking to. If they’re driven by philanthropy and exploration, then your approach will work. But some will need to be sold on an opportunity to get away from their home life. Some will need to be sold on the opportunities for professional advancement. Some will have credits in their eyes and nothing more. And some…well.”

“Well what?” Chris asked, now intrigued.

She smiled that Mona Lisa smile again. “Some will have to be _dared.”_

 

 

She ate lunch next to him one day in the mess hall and told him to call her Pippa and he guessed they were friends after that.

 

 

One day, Pippa dropped by his quarters to drop off an armload of PADDs she’d borrowed off him, and Chris invited her to stay for dinner. “It’s fine; Phil always makes too much spaghetti.” She walked into the kitchen, spent roughly ten seconds in the presence of the Pike-Boyce dynamic, and immediately understood _everything_.

She smiled gently at Phil, saying everything that needed saying without words, and then smacked Chris upside the head, ignoring his yelp and his _what the hell Pip?!_

 

 

He fell asleep on the sofa in her dorm in the middle of the afternoon when they were supposed to be finishing a twelve-page paper. When he woke up, their paper was finished, and Pippa was sitting cross-legged eating chocolate ice cream and watching TV. He had her big soft green blanket spread over him. It had not been there when he'd fallen asleep.

 

 

Shortly after their undergrad graduation ceremony, he got a little drunk and decided to kiss her. It felt weird. They mutually decided they would never do that again.

 

 

One day Phil was sleeping on the table in the mess hall (residency was eating him alive) and Chris looked up, eyes following a pretty female cadet who walked by with amazing legs and a bright smile. He shook himself and turned back to his table; Phil hadn’t even raised his head, but Chris followed Pippa’s eye line to the same cadet, and grinned. _“Ohhhhh…”_ he said, as if clarity was dawning on him. Pippa beaned him with a piece of her orange.

 

 

They both got their feet wet by piloting after grad school - him on the Sagan, her on the Kranz. Chris missed her a lot, and when Phil told him that Pippa was comming him too, Chris got unmistakably jealous and couldn’t figure out of whom.

 

 

She was off-planet and couldn’t go to his first wedding, but sent them a present - a fire extinguisher, _just in case you set your kitchen on fire for this one too._ She drew a winky emoticon afterward, like the cheeky little shit she was. Chris’ wife wrote a lovely thank you note to which Chris added _fuck you - luv C._

 

 

She came back to Earth briefly at the end of the year. Chris and Phil met her at the shuttleport, and she and Chris hugged for a long, long time. “Sorry I missed the wedding,” she murmured.

Chris laughed a tight laugh. “Least you made it for the divorce.”

They went home and packed boxes and rang in the new year drinking shitty sparkling wine out of plastic cups while sitting atop all Chris’ worldly possessions. _“Clink,”_ Pippa said aloud, as they _cheers_ ed their glasses together, watching fireworks burst over the Bay, surrounded by the emptiness of Chris' former home.

 

 

She made Captain first. He felt like maybe he should hate her for that but he couldn’t find an ounce of it in him. He sent her flowers. She called him an old sap and signed the note _Captain Georgiou._ She underlined “Captain” six times.

 

 

She sent him a Shenzhou to Lovell voice comm after his second wedding. Chris didn’t understand Malay, Thai, Cantonese, Bajoran, or Vulcan, but she certainly wasn’t shy about what she had to say in Standard, and none of it was flattering. Chris rubbed his temple and wondered how he’d pissed off all these important women in his life so quickly.

 

 

(He didn't remember comming Pippa from a bar in Mexico after things went to shit, when he couldn’t find Phil and he’d just thrown up on a girl who looked so much like his soon-to-be-ex-wife it made him cry. But Pippa certainly did, and Pippa is why he and Phil found one another again so Phil could take him back to their room and pour him into bed.)

 

 

He vid-commed her, just to check in, and told her he’d recruited the Kelvin Baby.

“How the hell did you manage that?” she asked.

He smirked. “I dared him.”

Her smile was wide and bright.

 

 

When he found out what had happened at the Binary Stars, he fainted dead away, with Phil just catching him before he hit the ground. Even after he came to, it made no sense. Pippa wasn’t supposed to die. Pippa _couldn’t_ die. Pippa was the smartest person in the room - in _any_ room. Pippa was bright and light and color and joy and hope and brilliance. Pippa couldn’t die. Pippa couldn’t be dead. Not Pippa. _Please, universe, not Pippa._

Phil held his hand, wiped his tears, rubbed his back as he threw up.

 

 

Six months later, a package showed up at Chris’ apartment. He knew immediately what it was and wanted nothing to do with it.

“You want me here while you open it?” Phil had offered.

Chris just shook his head. “No. No.”

Phil sighed lightly. “Chris,” he murmured, “denial isn’t going to make it go away.”

Chris swallowed harshly, staring at the box. “I know,” he said brokenly.

Phil patted his back gently, then slipped out of the apartment, leaving Chris there staring at the package. Closing his eyes, he unlatched it and hollowly gave his voiceprint ID.

And there she was. With that Mona Lisa smile.

“Hello, Christopher.”

Chris’ eyes immediately welled up.

“I always heard that brilliant men tend to be stubborn as mules too,” her image said cheekily, “but never have I known someone quite _so_ brilliant and _so_ stubborn at the same time as you.” Her image flickered slightly; the brightness was just a little off, the tones in the image a little muted. She was the color of memories.

“I’m so glad I knew you,” Pippa continued. “I’m so glad I got to be frustrated and amused and challenged by you. You’re a wonderful captain, Christopher Pike, and a good, good man…even if I _was_ better at diplomacy than you were.”

Chris gave a watery smile to the image.

“Keep being a good captain for me, Chris,” Pippa said gently. “But keep remembering _why,_ too. We came to explore. We came to help. We came to understand. And let's be honest - we came to have _fun._ Try not to forget that, no matter what happens now. And take care of yourself. Maybe this will help.”

The box opened. There lay the soft green blanket she’d kept in her Academy dorm, the one she’d taken into space with her, the one she’d covered him over with when he’d fallen asleep on her couch years ago.

“Oh, and one more thing,” she said softly, as if an afterthought. “In case you’re not admitting it to yourself yet, you love Phil. You love him more than most people ever love anybody, Chris. And in case you’re still blind as a bat, he loves you in fiercely equal measure. Don’t sit on it anymore, okay?” Pippa smiled. “Life’s too short. Consider the source.”

Chris blinked, two tears rolling down his cheeks.

The image of Pippa flickered slightly, and her grin widened. “I will miss you, my dear friend.”

And she was gone.

 

 

Chris cried into the blanket for an hour, then fumbled for his comm.

“Hey.”

Chris pursed his lips hard at the sound of Phil’s voice. “Can you come back over?”

“I’m on my way.”

**Author's Note:**

> This brotp needed to be written. So I did. I hope you enjoyed it :)


End file.
